With the arrival of monsoon, citizens of Dhaka can expect waterlogging to yet again rear its ugly head. Historically, during heavy rain, most of our cities find themselves all but flooded by rainwater, which brings everyday life to a complete standstill.
With the frequency of rain increasing in the monsoon seasons of the past, we have seen nothing that indicates that this year will be any different.
Waterlogging is mainly a failure of urban planning and design. For urban areas to properly withstand the effects of torrential rainfall, an efficient sewer system and dedicated waterways within the city are a must -- these are outlets through which the water can drain into the rivers and make their way into the ocean. However, in cities such as our capital, most of these systems are either absent or poorly maintained to such an extent that they exacerbate the problem instead.
On a holistic level, such an issue is not limited to cities alone. For a while now, urbanization has been escaping the boundaries of the city and making their way to the countryside -- the erection of brick kilns and the filling up of river embankments being examples of this.
The damage to the ecosystem this kind of unplanned urbanization brings has already resulted in disasters such as embankments collapsing, but this has also given rise to frequent floods -- something that has damaged a large portion of our crops in the past.
This is a problem that has long been in need of a solution.
The authorities must take adequate steps to address waterlogging. Our sewage system has to be fixed and maintained properly to deal with this annual hassle, and plans such as the Kallyanpur Retention Pond need to be expedited.
We have waded these waters long enough.
